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Wayne Fields, Ph.D., professor of English and director of the American Culture Studies Program in Arts & Sciences, has been named the first holder of the Lynne Cooper Harvey Distinguished Chair in English, according to an announcement by Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton and Edward S. Macias, Ph.D., executive vice chancellor and dean of Arts & Sciences. A formal installation ceremony will take place Dec. 2 in Holmes Lounge.
"We are very grateful for the generous gift that makes this distinguished professorship possible," Wrighton said. "Professor Fields is an outstanding academic leader in our American Culture Studies Program, and we are pleased he will be the inaugural holder of the Harvey Chair."
The Harvey Chair was established in 1998 by a gift from alumnus Lynne "Angel" Cooper Harvey. For more than 35 years, Harvey has worked in close collaboration with her husband, Paul, as writer, editor and producer of "Paul Harvey News and Comment," one of the most listened-to shows in radio history.
"Angel Harvey's splendid gift to establish this professorship marks a significant moment in the development of the American Culture Studies Program," said Macias. "I am enormously grateful for her interest and generosity and am particularly delighted that Wayne Fields will be the first holder of the Harvey Chair.
"Wayne is a superb scholar, writer and teacher. He is also a trusted adviser, helping us to think in new ways about Arts & Sciences, what we want to accomplish in the years to come and how we can take fullest advantage of the many benefits that we enjoy here at Washington University. Wayne and Angel share an abiding interest in American literature and culture, and Arts & Sciences owes a great debt to both of them."
Fields is a nationally known expert on American literature, non-fiction prose, rhetoric and American political argument. His books include "James Fenimore Cooper: A Collection of Critical Essays" (1979); "What the River Knows: An Angler in Midstream" (1990), a highly acclaimed non-fiction book about fly-fishing, the mysteries of rivers and the uncertainties of life's second half; and "The Past Leads a Life of Its Own" (1992), a collection of pieces about American boyhood.
His "Union of Words: A History of Presidential Eloquence" (1996) examined the use of rhetoric in presidential speeches, from declarations of candidacy to nomination acceptances, inaugural addresses, state-of-the-union speeches, declarations of war, executive farewells and other special addresses.
Fields' opinions are frequently sought by the national media to help interpret political speeches. He has served as a commentator for National Public Radio, Radio Free Europe and various television and radio network programs, and for five years wrote a regular column, "Close to Home," for St. Louis Magazine.
Fields earned a bachelor's degree in literature from Augustana College in 1964. He earned a master's degree the following year and a doctorate in 1972, both from the University of Chicago. He came to Washington University in 1968 as an instructor of English and was named assistant professor in 1971, associate professor in 1977 and full professor in 1991.
Fields served as acting chair of the Department of English in 1987-88 and chair from 1989 to 1992. He was director of the Master of Liberal Arts Program from 1986 to 1992 and dean of University College in Arts & Sciences from 1992 to 1996. He has been director of the American Culture Studies Program, which he helped develop, since 1996.
Over the years, Fields has served on numerous academic and advisory committees, including the Arts & Sciences Academic Planning Committee, the school's Faculty Council and the Task Force on Undergraduate Curriculum, which recently issued recommendations for revising the Arts & Sciences undergraduate course of study. He also has received numerous teaching awards, including the Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, a Founders Day Faculty Award, the Burlington-Northern Teaching Award, a University College Teaching Award and the Interfraternity Council Excellence in Teaching Award.
Fields was a fellow of the National Humanities Institute at Yale University in 1976-77 and a Fulbright-Hays Lecturer in American Literature at the University of Copenhagen in fall 1980, a McGee Professor of Writing at Davidson College in spring 1990 and a Lamont Visiting Professor of Literature at Union College in spring 1995.
Harvey earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University, both in English. In her three and a half decades with the Paul Harvey show, the broadcast has grown and prospered and now can be heard three times daily on nearly 1,500 ABC network affiliates and an additional 400 radio stations abroad. In 1997 she was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame at Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications.
In honor of her outstanding achievements, Harvey received the University's Distinguished Alumni Award at Founders Day in 1997 and an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree at Commencement in 1998. She is a life patron of the William Greenleaf Eliot Society and a generous supporter of the Arts & Sciences Scholarship Program.
